Raina replaces injured Dhawan

Shreyas Sharma

Mail Today•20 March 2013

Suresh Raina has been brought back into the Indian squad for the fourth and final Test against Australia, starting at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Friday.

The 26-year-old Uttar Pradesh left-hander replaces the Man of the Match from the third Test, Delhi lad Shikhar Dhawan, who jammed his left hand into the ground while fielding in Mohali and has been ruled out due to a fracture.

According to a release from Board of Control for Cricket in India, the 14-man squad was set to be expanded to 15 members with the addition of experienced opener Gautam Gambhir, but the Delhi batsman was not available due to jaundice.

“Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the fourth Test against Australia, scheduled to be played at Delhi from 22 March 2013 to 26 March 2013, after sustaining a fracture in his left hand. He will be out of action for six weeks,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said.

The selection committee then added Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina to the squad for the fourth Test. However, Gambhir has been diagnosed with jaundice, after undergoing a blood test, earlier today. The announcement of the team was delayed, as the Board was waiting for the copy of the report.

"It would’ve been an amazing turnaround for Gambhir, who had been dropped due to poor form after the series against England. Raina, meanwhile, can be thankful for getting another chance, since his Test record is hardly anything to write home about. In 17 Tests, he has scored 768 runs at 28.44, even though he has shown decent limited- overs form with a Man- of- the- Series- winning performance in the five ODIs against England and a pretty fruitful domestic one- day season as well"

The composition of the squad means either Ajinkya Rahane will make his Test debut as opener after having been in the team for over a year, or Cheteshwar Pujara will move up to open the innings with Murali Vijay, and Rahane or Raina will slot into the middle- order.